To Be Remembered

I didn't smile as often as I do this week because of the many tests and that stressful lab session. My coursemate told me she enjoyed it, but my group certainly didn't. It was a light diffraction experiment using a mercury lamp, and we couldn't get a clear enough diffraction pattern, try as we could for three hours.

I read my friends' recent blog entries. They remind me of the man with the great legacy -- whose life was short, but overwhelmingly accomplished and fulfilled.

Around the world, people who have watched his show even once, feel the loss of a close acquaintance, even though they never met.

In fact, this is the reason I continue to write songs even though I don't plan to make a living of them anymore.

I don't want -- at the end of my life -- to regret not perusing these skills God has blessed me with. I don't want, in maturity, to regret not writing the songs that reflect the different phases in my life. I can't imagine not singing for the world.

That's why I now openly publish my songs through this site. I strongly believe MUSIC is a form of expression, not a commercialized business. It shouldn't be just somebody's job.

Before, I used to worry about copyright issues and idea theft, but they now don't matter much to me anymore. I'd be delighted if someone else relates to my simple songs, and know that they're not alone, particularly when they feel alone. Heck, I don't earn a single cent for all the effort poured into each composition. (And I can be quite a perfectionist.)

Steve Irwin's passing reminds us that life, ultimately, is short and impermanent. Conciously or not, like it or not, we leave a part of ourselves in every single being that we meet.

Sometimes, the people whose hearts we touch continue to remember us even when we've forgotten them.

For example, my friend Fong -- who lived in the room opposite mine -- in the previous semester, lent me his spoon to eat because I forgot to bring mine. Now, everytime I eat nasi lemak using my spoon, I'm reminded of him. He's very busy with studies now, and has changed residential college, so we never met this semester.

We have a limited time to do our bit for mankind, to leave our own mark in this world -- if even a reluctant paw print -- as our legacy.

If nothing else, these humble songs are mine.